According to Paul Collins, the 95% occupied building traded at a 6% cap rate. The price had been negotiated by the end of last year; however, with the turmoil in the capital markets it took longer than expected to get the necessary financing in place.

The deal is a welcome development, it hardly needs to be said, for the DC area, which has seen a substantial slowdown in investment sales this quarter, even compared to last quarter's anemic growth. This transaction also bodes well for the I-395 Corridor specifically, Collins says, which took a hit in investor confidence after the details of the Department of Defense's BRAC realignment were made public in 2006. Today, he says, "investors are clearly more confident in the viability of these submarkets. They feel confident that demand for space will be here over the long haul."

Shirlington, a very small enclave in Arlington County, has received a wealth of real estate riches lately. In February the US Patent and Trademark Office signed a 10-year lease to occupy 168,468 sf at 2800 S. Randolph St., a 208,000-sf, nine-story office complex that Transwestern Monument Randolph Square LLC is expected to deliver in April. More recently, MacNeil/Lehrer Productions signed an 18,305-sf lease renewal at 2700 S. Quincy St.